A debate between Democrat Justin Yaich and Republican Doyle Heffley, seeking the office being vacated by retiring state Rep. Keith McCall, will be held Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Mauch Chunk Opera House, Jim Thorpe, and will be open to the public.

The panel, comprised of Dawn Ferrante, executive director of the Carbon County Economic Development Corporation; Sharon Gaeta, Blue Ridge Communications TV-13 reporter, and Ron Gower, TIMES NEWS reporter and photographer, will pose questions to each candidate.George Roberts, senior news anchor for BRC TV13, will serve as moderator for the debate."Decision 2010 The 122nd District Debate" will be one hour in length and air on BRC TV 13 on Wednesday Oct. 20 from 9-10 p.m. and on Thursday, Oct. 21, from 8-9 p.m.The public is invited to submit debate questions ahead of time. E-mail them to

brcnews@brctv13.com.Kim Bell, director of local origination programming and general manager of Blue Ridge Ridge Communications TV 13, said the debate format will allow each candidate to address a given question for 90 seconds, with the other candidate rebutting for 30 seconds.Each candidate will have a three-minute introduction at the beginning of the program and a two-minute concluding statement at the end of the program.There will be a social hour immediately following the debate.A shuttle will be available to transport audience members to and from the train station visitors center to the opera house, which is located at 14 W. Broadway in Jim Thorpe.